Mining and quarrying boosted the material flow

In 2016, altogether 317 million tonnes of
materials were extracted from the soil and vegetation of Finland,
which is 34 million tonnes more than in 2015. The growth in the
material flow was based on the increased excavation volume in
mining and quarrying and growth in unused extraction. The use of
domestic direct inputs remained almost at the same level as in
2015. In addition, some 57 million tonnes of products and raw
materials were imported to Finland in 2016, which generated an
estimated 211 million tonnes of hidden flows for the production
countries. All in all, the Finnish total material requirement was
585 million tonnes in 2016, which was 8.5 per cent more than in the
previous year.

Total material requirement by material group in
1970 to 2016

In the 2000s, the decrease in the material intensity of
Finland's economy has slowed down, which means that material
productivity is growing more slowly than in previous decades. In
the 2000s, around 1.2 kg of direct inputs has been required to
produce one euro, while in the 1970s the requirement was close on
two kg.